Date: Tue, 27 May 1997 11:56:19 +0200 (MET DST)
To: marxism-general-AT-jefferson.village.Virginia.EDU
Subject: M-G: UNITE! Info #34en: 2/3 US trickery on Barsebäck


UNITE! Info #34en: 2/3 US trickery on Barseb=E4ck 
[Posted: 27.05.97]

[Continued from part 1/3]


3. WHY IS THE INTERNATIONAL CAMPAIGN AGAINST
   NUCLEAR ENERGY SO HORRIBLE?

It *is* a horrible campaign, in relation to what are vital
interests of almost everybody on earth. This today is being
realized by more and more people too, some of whom the reactionaries
were able earlier to fool on this question. And this fact of course
is one reason why such attempts as the one discussed here now are
being made by some of the main forces responsible for it to feign
"total innocence" of it - while in fact pursuing it more frenziedly
than ever.

In several earlier postings, I've already tried to explain the social
importance and the social significance of this campaign, which
derives both from its being at the centre, so to speak, of a whole
series of anti-industrial campaigns today and also from the
importance that this energy source - so far, mainly potentially -
has for mankind. On the latter subject, several other writers on
the Net, viewing the question from the scientific/technical point of
view and not necessarily going into its political aspect, have
brought some important information.

I on my part shall repeat here a statement which in my opinion
brings the question of nuclear (fission) energy into an appropriate
perspective. I've already some times before posted to the Net
the following final lines of the 1954 book "Ceneral Chemistry" by
double Nobel price recipient Linus Pauling, USA:

"The foregoing calculation illustrates the great significance
of the fissionable elements as a source of radioactive material.
Their significance as a source of energy has also been pointed
out, by the statement that 1 pound of uranium or thorium is
equivalent to 2.5 million pounds of coal. When we remember that
uranium and thorium are not rare elements, but are among the
more common elements - the amount of uranium and thorium in
the earth's crust being about the same as that of the common
element lead  - we begin to understand the promise of nuclear
energy for the future, and the possibilities of its contribution to
human welfare. The discovery of the controlled fission of atomic
nuclei and controlled release of atomic energy is the greatest
discovery that has been made since the controlled use of fire
was discovered by primitive man."

And this assessment by no means has been"contradicted" by
later findings either, as some would have people believe. On the
contrary, its correctness has been confirmed even more.

In the era of primitive man, what would have happened, do you
suppose, to any group of persons who might then have been trying
to *prohibit* the controlled use of fire? If there in fact were
some, today at least nobody has ever heard of them.

But under the otherwise vastly different circumstances of today,
such people actually more or less rule the world. And while the
great majority of people should also take into consideration,
when finally dealing with them, the question of who have really
bad intent and who are wholly or mainly dupes, the fact remains
that such a state of affairs is unacceptable and has to be
radically changed - which is by no means the only reason why
the present international system of imperialism has to be over-
thrown either but which certainly constitutes a not unimportant
one among them.

Precisely here in Sweden, some truly horrific laws against the
extended use and further development of nuclear energy already
have been in force since several years back, which has caused
considerable resistance here too - true enough, still mainly
unorganized such - and now that even the destruction of already
existing, multi-billion, power plant has been put on to the order
of the day, people in general are becoming even more aware of
what a direct threat against themselves this whole campaign is.

Seen against that background, it really is no wonder that those
in power in the USA are trying to make people here believe that
they "have nothing to do with it".


4. A FEW FACTS CONCERNING THE ROLE OF THE MAIN
   US RULING CIRCLES IN THE CAMPAIGN AGAINST
   NUCLEAR ENERGY INTERNATIONALLY AND E.G. IN
   SWEDEN

The history on this whole matter since in fact 4-5 decades back
is a very large subject, which would merit a detailed treatment
too. Only a few elements of it will be mentioned here.

In the USA itself, as is well known, the development and utilisation
of nuclear energy has been halted or impeded in many ways, i.a.
by federal legislation. Writers on the Net, i.a. Rod Adams, who
publishes the periodical Atomic Energy Insights, have pointed out
that the DOE (US Department of Energy) is engaging in a "war
against nuclear power".

Naturally, such a policy comes into conflict with the striving of the
US ruling circles for that country to dominate the world as super-
power and "world gendarme". But this doesn't apply to the campaign
against nuclear energy in other countries, e.g. European ones, in
which the USA has long engaged, openly and by covert means, being
joined by this to by the former Soviet Union too from (at least) the
70s on.

In the entire present international programme for curtailment of
industrial development under the cover designations "sustainable
development" and "Agenda 21", the main forces of US imperialism
are playing a major role, though they're also opposed on this by
some other forces within the USA itself. One major propagandist
of the "sustainable development" scheme is present vice president
Al Gore, recently mentioned as a "strong candidate" for president
in the elections to take place in the year 2000. In a book he wrote
in 1992 while still a senator, for instance, "Earth in the Balance -
Ecology and the Human Spirit", not only nuclear energy ("at its
present level of development") is being attacked but also the use
of the today likewise important petrochemical fuels and, in
refrigeration and other industries, the vital freons etc (the
infamous "global warming" and "ozone hole" hoaxes). A "President's
Council on Sustainable Development" has been set up in the USA.

Implicitly saying that the use of nuclear energy is "not sustainable",
as is being done in this fanatical and arch-reactionary propaganda,
of course is ridiculous in the extreme, since the resources of
uranium and thorium are practically unlimited, these elements
being present in the earth crust in amounts of 2.7 ppm (parts per
million) and some 12 ppm respectively, with concentrations of the
order of 300-3000 ppm, such as are being mined today, or
slightly smaller also being very plentiful.

The present prime minister here in Sweden, G=F6ran Persson,
precisely is an extreme advocate of the "sustainable development"
scheme; his (Social Democratic minority) government last year
presented a programme whereby Sweden "is to take a lead" in
it - meaning in reality a programme for promoting unemployment
and further social rertogression on a large scale.


4. THE"HARRISBURG" AFFAIR IN 1979

During the time of the Carter administration in the USA, 1976-80,
one which in particular concentrated on the combating of nuclear
energy use both "at home" and not least abroad, more massive
public campaigns than ever against that energy source, and also
against industrial development in general, were organized in
several West European countries including West Germany and Sweden.
They had already started to grow somewhat earlier, in particular in
connection with the so-called "Conference on the Environment" in
Stockholm in 1972 and the publishing, for instance, in the USA in
that same year, of the programme of the so-called "Club of Rome":
"The Limits to Growth".

After the anti-nuclear-energy campaign had been criticized and
the motives behind it disclosed, it was slowed down considerably
in Europe in 1978. Therefore and for some other reasons, there
for some arose a "need" for a "serious nuclar-energy accident".
And one such  was arranged, in the Three Mile Island 2 reactor
south of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, USA, on 28.03.1979.

The "Harrisburg accident" is a whole story by itself, one that I so
far haven't gotten around to post much about - I'm planning to do
so later. The KPD/ML(NEUE EINHEIT) in April '79 published a
leaflet on it, disclosing several vital facts, some of which had
been discovered by me (who also reproduced that leaflet in
Swedish). One detail which we found to be very telling was:

One week before the "accident", on 21.03.79, a certain "fantasy
story" appeared in the York Dispatch, a paper published in York,
West Virginia, a city just as close to the TMI plant as is Harrisburg,
only across the state border. The story, entitled "The Total Melt-
down", was about how, precisely one week later, on 28.03,
precisely the reactor TMI 2 "suffered a pump failure and then
melted down completely". "Here the parapsychologists have
something in which to sink their teeth", wrote the correspondent
of Sydsvenska Dagbladet, Malm=F6, the only paper - as far as I
know - that brought the information about this in Europe. In fact
all who read it must have understood what it clearly pointed to.
But nobody else but we Marx adherents ever referred again to
the "strange coincidence" of this story told one week in advance.

In several European countries, the "Harrisburg accident" had
considerable repercussions, and in particular here in Sweden.
On 4 April, a day later called "Mad Wednesday", several
politicians made a complete turnabout - it's known that in the
days before, a person employed by the US government had
made statements here about how they "obviously didn't know
what significance this event had in the USA "and were unable
to draw the correct conclusions from it" - and decided on a
so-called "referendum on nuclear power" in Sweden.

This took place a year later, on 23.03.1980, and was not just
any "referendum" either. All three "proposals" in favour of which
you were allowed to "vote" said squarely "no" to nuclear energy,
which according to these "proposals" was to be curtailed and
eventually banned completely in this country - which was then
and which in fact is still the one with the largest amount of all
of electricity from nuclear power plants per inhabitant (10 GW of
installed effect for somewhat less than 9 million people).

And to this day, all politicians in Sweden do "stand by" the
"result" of this "referendum", the "democracy" of which you must
admit beats even the one of the so-called "elections" in, for
instance, Brezhnev's Soviet Union. Lately, even some of the
reactionary media have had to admit that in 1980, the Swedish
people had only the choice of "no" and "abstain" on this matter,
but this by no means has changed that law here that prohibits the
construction of all new nuclear power plants. The "Harrisburg"
swindle and the political propaganda and pressure in connection
with it has had grave effects in Sweden.

After the Chernobyl manipulation in the Soviet Union in 1986,
which is another and even much bigger story by itself, there in
Sweden was enacted the so-called "brainwash paragraph",
prohibiting all research that might be engaged in as a
preparation for constructing a nuclear power reactor here.
Quite recently, G=F6ran Persson has declared, in reply to the
criticism of this medieval piece of law from those in scientific
circles who, after all, have dared open their mouths on this:
"That paragraph stays".

[Continued in part 3/3]





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